MIDLAND — The Mackinac Center for Public Policy today released a new online database that provides detailed compensation data for every conventional and intermediate school district superintendent in Michigan. The searchable web tool also includes links to individual superintendent contracts.

“While compensation for superintendents only amounts to about 1 percent of public school spending, the public should have easy access to this particular information,” said Michael Van Beek, director of education policy. “As CEOs of districts and often the highest paid government employee in a local community, superintendent pay deserves an extra level of public scrutiny.”

The districts with the highest paid superintendents in the state were:

- Utica: $300,789

- Rockford: $290,445

- Kalamazoo: $280,469

- Farmington: $277,867

- Wayne-Westland: $273,875

The online database allows users to sort and search the data in a variety of ways. For instance, one could rank the pay of superintendents in a particular county or see which superintendents have the largest benefits packages in the state. Non-compensatory information is also available, such as the number of sick and vacation days superintendents are allotted.

While many school districts make some of this information available on their websites, this database makes it very easy to compare pay across districts. Links to individual contracts are an added value, since state law does not require districts to post these online.

“Taxpayers deserve to know what kind of value they’re getting out of publicly funded schools and that includes everything from the superintendent on down,” Van Beek added.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich. The largest state-based free-market think tank in the country celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.